Sisters Lost, Sisters Found?
by Jess.91
Summary: Four sisters, given up for their protection. Kept secret, kept apart, until fate brings them together...Their power lies in their bond as sisters...but making the bond isn't easy...Teen fic.
1. Secret Sisters

Summary: Four sisters, given up for their protection. Kept secret, kept apart, until fate brings them together ... There power lies in their bond as sisters ... but making the bond isn't easy ...

This chapter's Prue's POV, not sure what future chapters will be. I changed Paige's age she she isn't as young.

I don't own Charmed, blah blah blah.

Sisters Lost, Sisters Found

Chapter 1 - The Secret Sisters

**Prue's POV (17)  
**

"Prudence, I have something to tell you." Sharon, my social worker, smiled at me. I sighed as I sank into the arm chair behind me.

"Prue. It's Prue." I told her.

"Yes ... well ... don't you want to hear it? It's about ... your family."

"Not really." I replied, although my ears pricked up. Why should I? My mother gave me away when I was a few hours old, left me to live here - the orphanage, children's home, whatever you want to call it. Either way, it's not so great. I was fostered for a while when I was little, but I've been here since I was seven. That's over ten years ago. And in a few months I can leave, I can get a life.

All I have of my real "family" is a pendent - three leaf-like shapes, interlocking, and a letter. I've read it through so many times, I know it by heart ... _"My darling, don't ever think I did this because I don't love you. I do, more than words can say. And that's why I've left you here, why you can't stay with me. To protect you. I'd rather know you were alive and not with me, than lose you after a short time together. I will always be with you, and you will always be close to my heart. Love you forever, mummy xxx"_

Too bad I don't feel the same. Besides, if it was so dangerous to have me, why bother?

Sharon was saying something, so reluctantly, I listened.

"Your Grandmother has died."

"Huh?" I didn't even know I had a grandmother. And why do I care? "So?"

"Prudence, it appears your birth mother died, about seven years ago."

"Oh." I'm not sure how to feel about that. Am I meant to be sad? I don't actually feel anything right now. I never knew her. I wont miss her.

"Penelope Halliwell was your last known relative." Sharon continued.

"Oh."

"And she has left you ... her house, in her will."

"What!" Now that is interesting.

Sharon smiled at me. "Yes, to you and ..." Her smile faltered. "You get the house on one condition." She said carefully.

"What? What is it?" Finally, a way out of here. And I wont have to worry about rent or finding a place.

"You have to find ... your sisters." She mumbled.

"What?" I gasped in shock. "I - I have - s-sisters?" I stammered. I have a family?

"Yes. Three. They were all given up too." Sharon nodded. So it wasn't just me. Our mother didn't keep any of us. And I have three sisters out there ...

"How come I didn't know?" I asked quietly.

"I didn't know either. They're younger than you."

"How much younger?" I have baby sisters out there?

"We're not sure." She admitted. "There names are Piper, Phoebe and Paige. They're all in California ... somewhere."

"I'm going to find them." I said simply. "I'll find them, and take them home."

It never crossed my mind they might already had families, their situation different to my own.

* * *

"Piper's being fostered right now." Sharon told me, a week later. "She's spent the last 15 years in different foster homes. Phoebe's 13, she's with a foster parent, has been since she was five."

"And the youngest? Paige?" I asked eagerly.

"Now Paige Matthews. Adopted, when she was a few weeks old. She's twelve."

Wow. My secret sisters.

"Where are they? Whereabouts?"

"All right here in San Francisco."

"Really? Can we go see them, can I meet them?"

"It's not that easy, Prue. Phoebe and Paige are settled, they might not want you to -"

"Fine." I sulked. "Then we'll start with the oldest. The one who's not settled, who doesn't have a family. Let's find Piper."

* * *

Well, what do you think? Should I continue? 


	2. Unknown

Thanks for all the reviews. Guess I'm continuing, lol.  


Chapter 2 - Unknown

**Piper's POV. Still not sure how future chapters will be.**

"Hi." Carol, my new foster mother, smiled at me. "How are you?"

"Fine." I mumbled, sitting at the table. Carol and Jack Straw are my new foster parents. I don't kid myself it'll last. It never does. If I'm lucky I'll be here for more than six months.

No one wants me. My real mother didn't want me. I have a letter from her, that she left me with. Banging on about loving me and wanting to protect me. And dropping the little bombshell about me having a big sister, who was also abandoned.

I used to think about them alot, my mum and my sister. I don't even know her name. I used to imagine that one day my mum would come to find me, and then we'd find my sister ...

Then I grew up.

I still wonder about meeting them, though. My real family. Especially my sister. Wonder if we'll get on. Wonder what it would have been like to grow up together ...

"Piper?" Carol's voice shocks me back into reality. "Are you OK?" I realise my eyes are filled with tears and I run from the room.

The necklace is on the nightstand in my new bedroom. It's simple - a silver pendent on a peice of string - but I have a feeling it means something. It's like some old celtic sign or something.

I sat on my bed, thinking about what could have been. And who my father is. And where my sister is right now ... has she been adopted? Does she have a family? Does she even know she's adopted? Does she even know about me?

The Unkown. It sucks.

"Piper?" Jack called. "Amanda's on the phone for you."

Amanda. My social worker. She's been good to me over the years. The closest thing I have to a mother, I guess.

I took the phone from Jack wordlessly. "Hello?" I said dully.

"Piper. Hi." Amanda sounded worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, a little more interested.

"Piper ... OK, remember, you have a sister?" Amanda said carefully. How could I forget? We'd talked about it so many times, and Amanda promised me that when I'm older she'd help me find her.

"Yeah."

"Well ... She's looking for you ... She wants to meet you ..."

"What!" I gasped, dropping the phone by accident. I picked it back up quickly, and sat on the stairs. "She - she's looking for me?"

"Yep. She only just found out about you, and she wants to meet you. It's down to you Piper, you don't have to if you don't want to ..."

"Yeah, I do, I do. As soon as we can. How did she find out about me?" I asked exited. Had our mother been in touch?

"I honestly don't know." Amanda said to me. "Are you sure you want to meet her?"

"Definetly." I smiled to myself. One step close to that dream come true.

* * *

I shifted in my chair awkwardly. "Are they nearly here?" I asked Amanda. She smiled at me. 

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. From what I was told, Prudence can't wait to meet you."

Prudence. My sister. Weird.

Finally a middle-aged woman walked into the room, smiling widely. She took another step forward and revealed a teenage girl ...

She had long dark hair - I couldn't tell if it was black or brown - and blue eyes. She didn't look anything like me ... At least, I don't think she does. I'm not that good at noticing things like that.

She looked at me, and I felt myself redden. What if she doesn't like me? What if she rejects me too?

"Hi." She smiled.

"Hi." I smiled back, feeling shy. I hadn't expected this to be so ... awkward. She didn't feel like my sister - she felt like a stranger.

Next thing I know, she's pulled me to my feet and hugged me.

"I'm so glad we finally get to meet, Piper." She murmured.

"Me too." I replied, pulling away. "How - how did you find out about me?" I asked, wondering if our mother was going to walked through the door next. Wait, maybe that middle-aged woman's our mother?

No. I don't think she is. She's probably just Pudence's social worker.

Prudence sat down, and I did the same.

"Well?" I prompted.

"Our grandmother died." She said simply. I looked at her. What did that have to do with anything?

"So ...?"

"She left us a house in her will. Oh, and our mother died, seven years ago."

She said it casually, as though it didn't really matter, but I was crushed. I'd never know her, never meet her.

"Oh." I said.

"So when I found out about you, I got Sharon to help me track you down." She smiled at me.

"I don't really know what to say." I said, once I realised several minutes of silence had passed. "I ..."

"Oh! Do you know about Phoebe and Paige!" She cried exitedly.

"Who?" I asked blankly.

"I guess not." She beamed. "They're ... our younger sisters!"

"What?" I asked weakly. More sisters? This was too much to handle. My mother and grandmother are dead, I have two more sisters ... oh, and a house, apparently.

"Yeah, they were given up too ..." She frowned a little at that. "Phoebe's been with a foster family for a few years, and Paige was adopted. They're right here, in San Fransico." She told me.

"Have you found them?" I asked. Had I finally found my family?

"Well ... we know where they are, but _Sharon -_" She shot the woman a dirty look - "thinks it would disrupt their lives if we walked in, and they might not want us."

"That's ridiculous! We're there sisters! I spent my whole life wondering about you, they'll feel the same!" I cried. I wanted to meet them, I had to.

"You ... you knew about me?" She asked carefully. She sounded hurt, though she tried to hide it.

"Yeah ... um, I have this letter mum wrote when she gave me up ... and she wrote that I had another sister."

"What - what did she writw about me?" Prudence croaked.

"Just that - ah - that I have an older sister, who was also given up to protect her, and, um, she hopes one day we'll meet." I said awkwardly.

"Oh. Well ... I agree with you, about meeting them ... I mean, if mum told you about me, then she must have told them about us, right?"

"Right. I say, we call them or something." I said, looking at Amanda.

Sharon frowned. "I already told you, they're settled. It wouldn't be fair to -"

"We'll let them decide." I said firmly. "Get in touch with them and give them the choice."

"Yea!" Prudence cried. "Let's do that, come on, Shazza, please." Sharon frowned at the nickname "Shazza", and I'm guessing it wasn't her choice.

Sharon looked at Amanda, then Amanda smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

I beamed at her.

Sharon didn't look so pleased.

"Then I suggest," She sighed. "You start with ... Phoebe."

**Yep, next chapter will be Phoebe's POV. She's finally used to her 'family' ... how will she like her sisters walking into her life?**

**Review ...**


	3. Sisters, Strangers

Thanks for all the feedback on this story, I'm glad you like it lol. 

Chapter 3 - My Sisters, The Strangers

**Phoebe's POV.**

"Phoebe." My mother said awkwardly. "I have something to tell you."

I'd just gotten in from school, and the front door was barely closed. It must be bad news.

"OK ..." I said carefully, following her into the living room. I didn't sit down, even though she did and montioned me to. I could tell she was nevous. I knew it must be bad, because she's never nervous. She's been my 'mother' since I was five, and she's more like a sister to me. I had a foster dad too, at one point. He died a long time ago, and I know mum still misses him. I barely remember him.

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously.

"Nothing, nothing's ... _wrong._" She assured me. For some reason it wasn't that reassuring.

"What ... what's happened?" I tried, when she didn't say anything more.

"I had a phone call today ... On - on behalf of your sisters ..."

I dropped heavily into the chair behid me. I knew about my two older sisters, who had both been given up too. I had a letter from my real mother, telling me about them. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing.

"They want to meet you." She continued.

"Oh ... Do you think I should?" I asked.

"It's up to you, Pheebs. I think you're old enough to decide."

Huh? I'm 13. I'm not old enough to decide what time I have to be in by, or whether or not I can stay up late, or if I can live on chocolate ... so why am I old enough to decide this?

"Should I?" I repeated. I wanted her opinion. She's more like a sister, or a fun aunt to me. I didn't want her to tell me what to do, as such - I valued her opinion.

"Honestly? I think you deserve to know where you came from, and they deserve to know you. But if you don't want to, it can wait." She said.

I thought about it.

"I ... I think I'd like to meet them." I said carefully.

"OK. I'll arrange it for you." She smiled, knowing I wouldn't know what to do.

"OK."

"Oh, and ... you ... you have another sister." She told me. My head snapped up, and I gaped at her. "A younger one, which is why you didn't know about her."

"Is she ... will I be -?"

"No. Apparently they haven't been in touch with her. She's been adopted, she has a family. Apparently they were advised to talk to you first."

"How - how old are they?" I asked tentivly.

"Seventeen, fifteen and twelve." She replied. She squeezed my shoulder, then walked into the kitchen. I heard the beeping as she dialled a number, and I went upstairs.

I was going to meet my family. Two of my three sisters.

I squealed as I reached the top of the stairs.

* * *

Mum grabbed my hand to stop me twisting my fingers.

"Relax." She said. I nodded and put my hands on my knees. I had butterflies the size of sharks in my stomach.

The knocking on our front door made me jump about three feet in the air.

"I'll get it." Mum smiled.

She came back a minute or so later with a woman - a social worker mum had warned me would be here - and two girls, both with long dark hair. One had brown eyes like me, and looked as nervous as I felt, the other had blue eyes, and seemed confident and aprehensive. My sisters.

"Hi, Phoebe." The older one smiled, and as I stood up, she hugged me briefly. So did the other one.

"Hi - uh- Prudence, Piper." I muttered.

"Call me Prue." The older one said quickly. "Prudence is so old fashioned and formal."

I nodded. I sat back down, on the sofa next to mum, and the two of them sat on the other on. The social worker sat on the chair.

"So ..." I muttered, unsure what to say.

Prue and Piper looked at each other.

"Well, Phoebe, the reason - the reason I - we - found out about you is because our grandmother died and left us a house." Prue told me. My eyes widened, and I gaped at her. A house? To myself?

Oh, wait. A house. To share with my "sisters". The strangers.

"Oh." I said.

"Our mother died, years ago." Piper told me. I nodded. Mum had told me all of this last night. Except for the house bit, I knew everything.

"I'll be moving in, as soon as I can." Prue said. "Piper might be joining me, for a while at least."

"I'm staying here." I said quickly. "With my mum." I looked across at her and she smiled at me. I meant it. I wouldn't leave her. She wasn't just a foster mother any more - she was my mother, and my best friend. I was all she had in the world ... and it used to be vice versa ...

"Of course." Prue nodded. "We just wanted to meet you, and tell you ..."

"We'd like to stay in touch." Piper said. "We _are _sisters."

I nodded again.

"What about the other one? The youngest?"

"Her name is Paige." Prue smiled. "Paige Matthews. She's twelve. We're going to get in touch soon."

"Can I come to meet her?"

"Of course." Prue said.

They left 15 minutes later, promising to call me and let me know what was happening with Paige. Which they did, a day or so later.

"Bad news." Prue's voice said down the line. "Paige ... doesn't want to meet us."

"What?" I said disappionted. "Why?"

"I don't know. I guess 'cause she's so young? She isn't ready, apparently."

"Oh."

"I'm sure we'll meet her one day." Prue told me. "And I, uh, kinda gave her your number, in case she wants to talk to you."

"OK, that's something, I guess." I murmurd.

All I could do was hope she'd change her mind.

**Next chapter: A life-changing event makes Paige reconsider her desion ...**


	4. The Only Family I Have

**Chapter 4 - The Only Family I Have**

My aunt Julie lead me out of the church, clutching a dirty tissue in her left and my arm in her right. I stumbled along, still in shock.

A few weeks ago, everything was fine. I was happy enough with my adoptive parents. I didn't think of myself as adopted, really. Until that phone call came.

My mum and dad told me about when I got home from a friends house. I new about my sisters, my three older sisters out there somewhere, all abandoned like me. But I didn't worry about finding them. I'm twelve, there's plenty of time for that when I'm older, I reasoned.

Apparently, my biological grandmother had died, leaving a house to the four of us. None of the others new about me - the oldest didn't know about any of us, the second oldest new about the oldest but not me or the other one, who new about everyone except me.

Confusing, right?

Anyway, they wanted to meet up. I told my mum to tell them I'm not ready. And she did, and they probably hate me.

But there's the only family I have now.

* * *

Aunt Julie took me back to her house - my new home it seems. Because almost a week ago my parents, my amazing, wonderful parents died. And yet I survived.

_Bang! And suddenly I'm on the pavement ... the car ... the car's still on the road, but it's on fire ... it's burning ... and my parents ..._

Aunt Julie sat down next to me and started to talk, but it was a few minutes before I started listen. The word "sisters" caught my attention.

"I know your parents wanted meet them." She told me. "When your ready, of course. But I think ... they could help you through this."

I nodded silently, then made my excuses and escaped to my new bedroom.

What does she know? Everyone I get close to leave me. I mean, that whole bond between a mother and her newborn is supposed to be really strong, right? But I lost her. Now my adoptive parents ... what if I get close to my sisters and they leave me too?

But they are the only family I have left. I mean, aunt Julie and uncle Dave, they might be great and all, and they'll always be my family ... but I have real sisters out there. Maybe I should find them?

But I don't know how to. Mum knew a number I could call ... but I don't.

I reached onto the nightstand and picked up the necklace laying there. The one I was left with. The Celtic symbol on black string. I don't think I've ever actually worn it, but I keep it ... just so I know there's more out there ... More to me.

Maybe tomorrow I'll ask aunt Julie if she knows the number.

* * *

She did. And now I'm sat on the stairs clutching the paper in one hand and the phone in the other.

"Go on." Aunt Julie encouraged. She doesn't want me. She can't wait to get rid of me.

With shaking hands I dialled the number and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" A bright voice said.

"I ... I ..." I hung up. I couldn't help it. I sighed, closed my eyes.

"Paige?" Aunt Julie asked gently. "If you're not ready ..."

"I am. I think. But ... what if they don't want me? What if I blew it?" I asked, voicing my deepest fear.

"Of course they want you. You are a part of them. As much as you love your adoptive family - and as much as we all love you - you are a part of them, of their family."

I nodded, still trying to figure out what she'd said. Aunt Julie talks very fast, so I'm always a couple seconds behind when she's talking to me. I took a deep breath and pressed redial.

_Bring Bring. Bring bri -_

"Hello?" The voice answered again. This time she sounded concerned.

"I ... Can I speak to Prudence Halliwell?" I asked, just like aunt Julie and I had rehearsed.

"You are. Speaking to her, I mean."

"Oh." I looked at aunt Julie, who was smiling brightly. It's now or never.

"Are you still there?" Prudence asked.

"I ... It's Paige." I blurted. "I think I'm -"

"My baby sister." She said brightly. "Hi!"

"Hi. I - um, thought we should talk."

"OK." She said, sounding happy and disappointed all at the same time. "How are you?" She asked. At first I thought she knew about my parents, but then I clicked. We had never spoke before. She just meant generally.

"I'm ... OK." I lied. She's still a stranger really, and I can't spill my guts to a stranger.

"Listen, Paige. We understand about you not wanting to meet up." She said. We? Oh. My other sisters are all close and pally without me.

_What did you expect? For them to ignore each other until you were ready? Dream on._

"We're not mad or anything." She said anxiously. "Piper was worried you'd think we were, but -"

"Piper?"

"Yeah ... she's the second oldest. There's me, then Piper, then Phoebe, then you."

"And no more?" I asked. I had to check. Who knows? Our mother may have given up loads of babies.

"No. No more. Our Grandmother left the house to us four, so I don't think so." She added. Suddenly I wanted to meet them. All of them. I couldn't help but try and picture Prudence. Is her hair the same as mine? Dark and loosely curled? Are her eyes brown like mine?

What about the others? Piper and Phoebe?

"I've changed my mind." I said, before I could change it again.

"Huh?" She said, she sounded worried.

"I mean about meeting up. I want to, I want to meet you guys." I was talking so fast, it's a wonder she could understand me. But I have to say it, before I change my mind again. Believeme, that's very likely.

"Really? When?" She cried happily.

"Whenever." I muttered, already doubtful. Luckily, by the sound of it, Prudence isn't going to let me pull out of it now.

"OK, give me your address and I'll call Piper and Pheebs. I'll call you when we know. OK?"

"OK." I rattled off the address as aunt Julie hissed it to me.

"Right. I'll call them right now." She said. "I'm so glad, Paige."

"Me too, uh, Prudence." I muttered awkwardly.

"Call me Prue." She replied. "OK, bye."

"Bye." I said, then hung up. I explained quickly to aunt Julie, then went back to my room.

What would they think of me doing this? Finding them?

I don't know. But I have to do this. For me.

* * *

Prue called me a few hours later, arranging to meet up the next day. The next day! It's all happening so fast. But I agreed and now ...

I'm sat at the kitchen table, listening for the doorbell.

Ding-Dong.

There it goes. They're here.

As uncle Dave answers, I checked my reflection in the mirror. Stupid, but I can't help it.

"Paige? Your sisters are here." Uncle Dave said, stating the obvious. I turned around and stepped away from the mirror. Seconds later the door swung open, and three smiling girls walked in. Unlce Dave closed the door behind them. We're alone.

The tallest had long straight raven hair, and blue-grey eyes. She looked like the kind of girl you wouldn't want to cross - although she was smiling brightly, her eyes still held a slight coldness about them.

"Hi." She pulled me into a hug, which shocked me. "I'm Prue." I nodded, and when she released me, I was pulled into another hug.

"I'm Piper." She told me. She had long dark brown hair and brown eyes, and was smiling brightly.

"Hi." I replied nervously.

I looked at the other one.

"You must be -"

"Phoebe!" She said brightly in a childish voice, hugging me. She had dark brown hair, just past her shoulders and brown eyes. When she let go of me I sat down at the table, and they did too.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Phoebe asked me.

"I just did." I mumbled.

"What?" Teachers always told me about mumbling, but I can't help it.

"I ... I ..." _Come on Paige. They're going to find out sooner or later ..._

"My parents died." I said reluctantly. "My mum wanted me to meet you, I ... sort of did it for her. And for me."

"Oh my god." Phoebe breathed. "I'm so, so sorry." She reached across the table and put her hand over mine.

"I can't imagine what you're going through." Piper told me. "But we're all here for you, if you ever need to talk." She reached her hand across too.

"Always." Prue said. "Nothing's going to split us up again." She put her hand on top. If only I felt like them. They all seemed to think this was great we're a family. It's going to take more than tha -

A weird blue light surrounded us, filling the kitchen and illuminating my sisters - and my - faces for a few seconds.

"What - what was that?" I gasped, pulling my hand away.

"I don't know." Prue muttered, looking around. "Sunlight?"

"That was something else." I said, shaking my head.

"It was probably nothing." Piper assured me.

I wasn't so sure. But suddenly ... I felt a tiny bit closer to my sisters.


	5. Home Sweet Home

Prue's POV.

Chapter 5 - Home Sweet Home

Paige smiled nervously as we stood on her front door.

"Seriously, call whenever you need to talk. Night or day." Phoebe was saying. She broke out of the hug. "Buh-bye."

"And we'll meet up again soon. As long as your ready." Piper said, hugging her one last time. "Bye."

"Take care ... lil sis." I smiled, pulling her towards me. "See you."

"Bye." She said, tooking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll call you."

And we left.

It's amazing. I have three sisters I never knew. We're virtuallly strangers ... and yet I've never felt so at home as I do when I'm with them.

"Are you ready, Prudence?" Sharon asked me a few days later. I nodded, esparated, the tone of Sharon's voice implied that I was holding us up, rather than the over way round. In truth, I woke with a start at 5 a.m - five hours ago, and was unable to fall back to sleep, instead dwelling on the dream I'd had - A strangly familiar woman, I swear I've never met, taking me by the hand and leading my through a door, to my sisters, who were waiting.

Sort of like I was being welcomed home. It was nice.

"Let's go, Shazza." She frowned at the nickname, as always. I only use it when she calls my Prudence - If she ever actually called me Prue I'd call her Sharon.

"Come on then."

We're going to look at ... drum roll please ... the house. Our house.

All four of us. Even Paige, although I didn't expect her to. She agreed though, and when we pull up outside the huge pink and white house, she's already stood outside with her aunt, and Piper, with Amanda, her social worker.

"Hi!" I beamed, running over. Both of them smiled at me in return.

"Phoebe not here yet?" I asked.

"Not yet ..." Piper said.

"There! She's there!" Paige said exitedly, pointing to a blue car coming towards us, Phoebe waving from the passenger seat.

"Hi!" She cried, jumping out - almost falling actually - and running towards us. "Is this the house? Wow! It's huge!"

"It's awesome." Paige agreed, as Phoebe's mum got out of the car.

"Wow. Your grandmother obviously had a lot of money." She said to us. "Our house would fit inside this place three times over."

"Don't exagerate mum." Phoebe said, rolling her eyes. She didin't fool us though. Her foster mother and Phoebe were close. I kinda envy that. The only person I could rely on growing up was Sharon. And trust me, she's not thast great.

_Why did you do it mum? Why abondon us? Did you think we'd have a better life? Guess what, you were wrong._

Still thinking bitter thoughts, I followed Sharon to the door.

Wait. Oh, my god. That door. The door from my dream, the one the woman lead me through. Coincedence? Maybe.

Maybe not. That is really, really creepy. It's identical. Right down to the jewel colours on the glass. Am I the only one creeped out by this?

I guess I'm the only one that had the dream; my sisters breezed through the door into the hall.

"Impressive." Piper muttered. Understatment. The hallway was huge, long and filled with ornate rugs and antiques. The sheer impressiveness of the house distracted me from my jumbled thoughts, and instead I turned my head in ever direction, trying to take in ever detail.

"It really is." I said, amazed. "This is all ours?"

"Yep. Every last bit of it." Sharon smiled. "But are you sure you want to move in? Maybe you should sell it. That way you can split the money four ways -"

"No way!" The four of us cried together. Smiling, I turned back to Sharon.

"This is ours. And we can share it. It's a pretty big house." I smiled. "How long before I can move in?"

"And me!" Piper added.

"You'll have to wait for paper work to be finalised ... anmd the results of the blood test- "

Oh, yeah. That little, painful, detail. To make sure we're actually sisters. I don't need some test, I can feel it.

"And you may have to apply for custody of Piper."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Amanda assured us.

"What about you too?" I asked our younger sisters. "Are you going to be staying over every now and then."

"Phoebe'll be here as often as she can." Her mother promised. "I wont let her lose you again."

"Great. And ... you?" I asked Paige.

"Sure. If it's OK with my aunt."

"Maybe one day we could all live here." Piper said dreamily. "The Halliwell sisters reunited."

"And the Matthews." Paige frowned.

"Sure. You know what I meant." Piper said quickly.

I knew that Paige was going to be the hardest to get close to - I knew that the lose she had suffered would see to that. But there was nothing else we could do, other than be here for her.

And I planned to be here for her forever.

* * *

**Three weeks later.**

"That the last box?" I asked Piper, blowing my hair out of my face.

"I think so." She smiled. "We did it. We're home."

"And we're here for the house warming!" I heard Phoebe voice before I saw her; she and Paige were stood in the open doorway, each clutching a bag.

"House warming?" I asked.

Phoebe held up a huge bag of tortilla chips and Paige indicated the bottle of pepsi and the popcorn sticking out of her back.

"More of a sleepover than a party, but we don't know that many people." Phoebe joked.

"I think family is just fine." I replied.

Family. Are we family? Yes. We are family. But we're not _a _family. Yet.

"Well, don't just stand there. Come in!" Piper beamed. They stepped forward and we hugged. It still felt strange to have sisters, but ... it felt great.

We settled in the living room, a so-called horror movie - "Kill it Before It Dies", that Phoebe' had brought along. I've never seen it, and although she raved about it for ten whole minutes before putting it on, I think it kinda sucks. It's really cheesy, and not even nearly scary.

About half-way thorugh, filled with bordem, I picked up a piece of the popcorn Paige had brought, and threw it at Phoebe's head. I couldn't resist.

"Hey!" She turned around, feelnig the back of her head, then caught sight of the popcorn. She narrowed her eyes at us. "Who threw that?"

I tried to look innocent as Piper and Paige stifled giggles. Wow. Paige was gigling.

Good.

I think Phoebe was thinking the same thing, as she picked it up and threw it at me.

"Hey! It wasn't me!" I lied.

"It _sooooo _was! You're a lousy liar, Prudence."

"Must be a family trait." Piper mused. "I've been told the exact same thing."

"How do you know it wasn't ... Piper!" As I said her name, I threw popcorn at her too - what I didn't expect was another piece to come wizzing towards my face. From none other than Paige.

"Oh, it's on now!" I grabbed a handfull and threw it in the air, unable to decide which sister to throw it at first. As it rained popcorn, we giggled, and picked up more - the suply was seemingly endless.

I hit Phobe again on the head - next thing I knew, a large, soft white object hit me in the face - the pillow Phoebe had brought.

"Right! If that's the way you wanna play!" I ran from the room, returning seconds later with more pillows. Waking everything we could reach, someone (naming no names, it was a certain second oldest ...) knocked over the bottle of cola. A whole five minutes were wasted cleaning it up, before we started again.

The rest of the night - and the film thank god - were spent pillow fighting and making more mess. It's the most fun I've ever had.

Later, as I lay awake listening to my sisters sleep, I wondered again why our mother gave us up. If only I could speak to her ...


	6. The Legecy We Never Knew

Piper's POV.

Chapter 6 - A Legacy We Never Knew

When I woke, I thought it was morning, but the room was still dark, and I could hear the heavy breathing that told me everyone else was still sleeping.

Great. I'm pretty much alone in this old big house.

"Prue?" I called. Nothing. "Phoebe? Paige?"

They didn't answer, but I heard a faint banging noise ... From upstairs, I think.

"Prue?" I said again, but this time, when she didn't answer, I got up. Time to explore my new house.

"Hello?" I called when I reached the top landing. "Is someone up here?" It had been to dark downstairs to see if all of the others were still down there. Maybe one of them had gotten lost on the way to the bathroom?

But the only sound was the gently banging noise.

The bedrooms and bathroom were all empty, but as I left the room I've just decided is mine, I cuaght sight of another flight of stairs. Were they even there before? Causiously, I moved to the bottom of the stairs, and listened, as another bang reached my ears.

"Hello?" I climped to the second step, and tried to see what was at the top. A door. That's what's making the noise - It's banging again the frame. There must be a draught. Strange.

I looked arouund for an open window, but there wasn't one.

I wonder what's up there ...

Slowly I climbed to the top, and stepped through the door. A large dusty room stretched before me. This must go over the entire house. Wow. It's filled with stuff - old boxes, trunks, a couple of sofas and a bed. Generations of stuff ...

Right at the end, by the big stained glass windows, a shaft of moonlight is filtering through, illuminating a big trunk. Weird. Everything else is pretty much tucked away round the edges, but this isn't ... Curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to it. It wasn't locked, and the lid, though heavy, lifted easily. Loads of things are cramed into it, candles and little bottles and bags, but what cuaght my eyes was the big book. I mean, it really has to be the biggest book I've ever seen. Lifting it was hard, it's about the same weight as a box of bricks. Sitting down on the floor, in order not to drop the book, I opened it to the first page.

"The Book Of Shadows?" Sounds weird. Is it some horror book?

The next page has a ... poem or something on it. It doesn't make much sense though.

"Hear the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night." I should stop. This is bad, this sounds bad. But I can't ... "The Oldest of Gods are invoked her, the great work of magic is sought." Magic? What is this? "So in this night, and in this hour, I call upon the anceint power, bring your power to we sisters four, we want the power, give us the power."

Lightening struck and I screamed, dropping the book.

"Piper?" Prue's voice called seconds later. Suddenly scared, I grabbed the book and ran down the stairs.

"IthinkIdidsomethingreallyreallybadbutIdon'tknowwhatshappened!" I cried, when I reached the ground floor.

"What? Slow down." Phoebe siad, and, breathless, I sat heavily on the stairs. Prue sat next to me, and Phoebe and Paige sat on the step below us, looking at me weirdly.

Great. Now they think they're related to a phsyco.

"I heard a noise." I said, deciding to start from the begining. "So I went upstairs. There's another flight of stairs, leading up to an attic. And I found this." I held out the book, and Phoebe took it, opening it interestedly.

"I read that." I said, when she reached the page.

The others skimmed through it, looking confused.

"I don't get it." Paige said.

"You read it aloud?" Phoebe asked. I nodded.

"Then lightening struck, and I guess I was scared. I think I've done something ... really, really bad."

"This isn't bad." Phoebe beamed. "It's great."

"What do you mean?"

"We're witches." She announced, smiling.

"I turned us in to witches?" I muttered faintly.

"No. We already were - it's our birthright." Paige told me. "You just ... unlocked it."

"Our birthright?" Prue repeated.

"Yep. The leagacy we never knew." Phoebe told her. "Look at this. Melinda Warren. One of our anncesters. She was betrated by a warlock, she loved. She cursed him -" This sounds way to weird. Impossably weird. Warlocks? Curses? "But as she burned at the stake she made a prophecy, saying that ... "Each generation of Warren witches would get stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of four sisters."

"What a coincedence." Paige said sarcastically.

"Oh, no. No way." I said quickly. "You don't - you think _we _are those sisters?"

"You tell me, Piper. You read the spell."

"Oh, no. No, no, no."

"Piper, calm down." Prue told me. "This isn't real. It's just some ... story book."

"Yeah, looks like a story book to me." Phoebe said, her voice dripping with sacrasm as she flipped the pages. "Demons ... warlocks ... spells, potions and curses. Yep. Story book."

"Ok ... so maybe it's just some one's idea of a joke? You know, to freak little kids out?"

"Well we're not little kids and I'm freaked out." I told her.

"This can't be real." Prue stated.

"We'll see." Phoebe smiled.

"What - what exactly are we supposed to do?" I asked "I mean - you know - hyperthetically, if we were witches, what would we have to do?"

Phoebe smiled at me. "Proctect the innocent from evil." She said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And how would we do that?" Prue asked, half-mocking, half-curious. Uh-oh. I think the two of us are starting to believe ...

"With magic. We get powers." Paige told us.

"Powers? What kind of powers?" I asked interested. Can you blame me?

"A lot of them." Phoebe siad, her eyebrows raised. "Telekenesis and astro-projection, moleculor immobilization and moleculor combustion, premonitions and levitation, telicenetic orbing and ... whitelighter powers." She frowned at the last few words. "Whatever that means. So, can anybody do anything?" She asked brightly.

"Not that I know of." Prue muttered, taking the book and leafing through it.

"But you admit that it's real?" Paige asked quickly.

"No. But I know a way we could prove it ... one way, or the other." She turned the book around to face us, indicating a spell ... to summon the dead.


	7. Answers, Finally

Phoebe's POV.

**Chapter 7 - Answers, Finally**

"You want to summon the dead?" I asked her. "Geez, Prue, you couldn't think of something a little bit simpilar for our first spell?"

"No. I think it's perfect." She said. "Besides, if it works, maybe we could get some other answers ..." I knew what she was thinking, and I didn't know what to think about it.

Piper looked at the page again. "Candles. There were candles in the attic."

"Lets go." Prue said. Her and Piper were a few steps ahead of us.

"I thought it was us who wanted to do magic, not them?" I asked Paige. She shrugged.

"I'm just really, really confused." She told me.

In the attic, Piper lead us to a big old trunk, the one she said she'd found the book in. Piper, Paige and I dig out some of the big white candles, and started setting them out in a circle, like the book directed, while Prue sat the book on a stand nearby, then began to light the candles.

"Ready?" She said, the candles and the moonlight, as our only light, sent creepy shadows around the room.

"Yep. Let's do this." I said simply. We stood at the stand, looking at the book and each other.

"On three." Prue duirected. "One ..." Next to me, Paige is shaking a little bit. "Two ..." I grabbed her hand to reassure her. "Three."

"Hear these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side, I summon thee, come to me, cross now the great divide." We read in unison.

A wind blew lightly around the room, and in the centre of the candle circle, something started to glow ...

Seconds later, a woman with long brown hair stood before us, wearing a long white dress or robe or something.

She looked at us in shock, and as they passed over each of us in turn, her eyes filled with tears.

"It can't be ..." She breathed. "It just can't ..."

She looked at us and we looked at her, several long, silent seconds passing.

"Prue ... Piper ... Phoebe ... and Paige." As she said our names she looked at us, and we each gave a little nod.

"Are you ... Patrica?" Prue asked eventually. A look a hurt passed over the woman's face, that she quickly supressed.

"Yes. I'm Patty."

"And you're ... um ... our -" I trailed of as she began to nod vigiourosly.

"Your mother. Yes."

"Oh." Piper said, sounding a litle surprised. What did she expect? We summoned our mother, and got her.

"I ... I wasn't expecting this." Patty smiled after a while. "I didn't expect you to get your powers ... especially not to summon me."

"Well we did." Prue said coldly.

"I'm sorry, Prue." It took me all this time to realise that Patty was calling her Prue, not Prudence. For some reason I felt a little anoyed by this. She's a stranger, after all.

"For what?" Prue said, her voice still cold, detatched.

"For giving you up." Patty said simply. "You have every right to hate me, after the life you've had. It's been the worst for you - you were never able to get close to someone. You never felt undivided love."

"I never felt any love." Prue said, her eyes narrowed.

"I loved you." Patty whispered, but Prue ignored her.

"What about us?" Piper said suddenly. "Do you think we had the perfect lives?"

"No. I'm sorry, Piper. You've been passed around, more that anyone, feeling no one wanted you -"

"No one did." Piper snapped, but Patty carried on regarless.

"But you felt the love of so many people." Patty said. "You had no stability, no sense of family. But you felt love - the foster parents you've had, Amanda ... And I've always loved you." She added the last part so quietly, it took me a while to figure out what she'd said.

"And Phoebe. Those first few years of your life, you had no one." She said sadly. I don't want this. I don't want her to pity me.

"Seriously, Patty, I'm OK. I have the best mum in the world, I'm -"

"You were alone, though, and you hated me, you hated the fact that I'd thrown you out into the cold, cruel world, alone."

"Yeah, I did!" I said angrily. "But don't stand there as if you know me - you don't know the first thing about me. The only person that does, is back in _my _home. And she loves me more than you could ever do."

"You don't know how I feel." Patty said quietly.

"And you don't know how I feel."

"Can we stop this!" Paige cried suddenly. "What's done is done, there's no changing it!"

"Paige." Patty whispered. "I thought you were the one I didn't have to worry about so much. I though you'd worked out. And then ... I wont even pretend to know how your feeling. You've had what none of the others did - unconditional love your whoole life. And you had it snatched away from you."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You all have reason to hate me -"

"I don't hate you." I snapped. "If you hadn't abandoned me, I wouldn't have the great mother I have now."

"And I wouldn't have had my parents." Paige added. "So thank you." She didn't sound grateful though.

"Well I had no one." Prue said. "And neither did Piper. So I'm sorry, but I can't forgive you."

"I don't expect you to." Patty replied. "But like Paige said - what's done is done. I can't change that. You'll make a great whitelighter someday, Paige." She added.

"A what?"

"A whitelighter. Sort of like a ... guardian angel. You're ... half-whitelighter. You'd father was mine."

"Excuse me?" Prue asked.

"You three, you older three, your father is my first husband. But Paige, your father was my whitelighter."

"So she has the whitelighter powers?" I asked.

"Yes."

"So ... I'm not even their proper sisters?" Paige whispered.

"Of course you are." Piper said quickly. "It doesn't matter -"

"I need to go." Patty interrupted, looking a the ceiling.

"Oh, no you don't. We're not finished with you. We need answers." Prue snapped.

"I really, I have to go -"

"You leave, and we'll just keep summoning you until we get our answers." Piper said quickly.

"OK. Make it quick."

"Why did you do it?" Prue asked simply. It's the question we'd all always wanted to know ... And yet, I'm scared of hearing her answer.

"I had to." Patty replied. "I didn't have a choice -"

"There's alwayus a choice." Paige said. She seemed to have recovered from the news, and was just as eager as the others to hear Patty's reasons.

"Not for me ... I was trying to protect you. Prue, when you were a few hours old, a demon almost killed you. He set your cot on fire, and if I hadn't frozen the flames ..." She paled at the memory of it, then composed herself. "While I was still carrying you, a warlock tried to kill me. He told me I would bear the charmed ones, and tried to make a pact with me. That when you were all born, and you had your powers, he could take them." She looked at us sadly. "I couldn't let him kill you - or stop me from having the others - so I agreed. Your grams and I bound you're powers when you were a day old, and ... gave you up." A lone tear slid down her face. "We knew that if we kept you with us, once Paige was born you'd have all your powers. So we had to keep you apart."

We looked at each other, trying to take in the story. I'd had many theries about why she gave us up; a violent partner, or forbidding parents, even that she livedsome where were it was really dangerous to have kids. But never this.

"He came to me again, just after I'd had you, Paige, just after you'd ... gone ... and he lost it. Said that he'd be waiting, and one day he'd get you. I wanted you to find each other, but I knew you couldn't. But now you have."

"This ... warlock." Prue said. "What are we supposed to do when he comes after us?"

"We made a spell, my mother and I. It's a power of four spell, though, so we couldn't cast it. Only you can."

"I have a question." I frowned. "Why didn't you wait 'till Paige was born and get us to do the spell? I mean ... just because she couldn't say it, she'd have still had her powers, right?"

"We couldn't risk it. There's was no garentee it would work."

"You can go now." Prue said after several moments silence. "We've heard all we need to."

Her words sound harsh, but her voice and face were softened. Patty nodded.

"I love you." She whispered ... but none of us spoke as she left.

"OK, our powers ..." I said after a while. I felt we'd stared at the empty candle circle for too long. "Paige has the whitelighter powers ... but what about the rest of us?"

"I have no idea." Piper said. "And I'm not sure I want to."

"The sooner we learn our powers, the better protected we are." Prue said. "Read them out again, Pheebs."

I walked back over to the book and flipped the pages. "Telekenesis and astro-projection, moleculor immobilization and moleculor combustion, premonitions and levitation, telicenetic orbing and whitelighter powers."

"So, what, one of us has Telekenesis and astro-projection, another of us have the molecules thing -"

"I think so." I nodded.

"So maybe since the whitelighter stuff was last, and Paige is the youngest, maybe the oldest has the first two?" Piper said. It just confused me, but it made sense to Prue.

"You think so?"

"Try moving something."

"I don't know how." Prue said.

"I guess we're all gonna die then." I said tirdly.

"It's not my fault!" Prue yelled angrily - wow, sleep deprivation really makes people ratty - and a nearby lamp smashed to the floor.

"Telekinesis?" Piper asked.

"Duh." I mutttered. I don't know - maybe sleep deprivation makes me ratty too - but suddenly I was irritated.

"Maybe we should just go to sleep." Paige said. "We can talk about everything in the morning."

"Right. But my mum's picking me up a eleven. We're going shopping." I said, walking back into the living room.

"Don't you think this is more important?" Prue asked me incrediously.

"Well, this is important ... but I promised ..." I muttered.

"So shopping comes before us?" Piper asked. She didn't sound mad - a little sarcastic maybe - but she seemed interested, really.

"No, but ... my mum's important too. She did raise me." I pointed out. I didn't mean to make them mad ... But I suppose it was a bit inconsiderate.

"Right, we get it Phoebe you have the perfect family life." Prue snapped.

"Perfect?" I cried. "Perfect? I was six years old when my foster dad walked out on us. Do you know what it's like seeing the only person you have in the entire world fall apart?"

"At least you had someone Phoebe!" It wasn't Prue this time, it was Piper. "We had no one, in the entire world."

"That's not my fault!" I screamed.

And suddenly, we're all shouting at once, and my head hurts like hell.

This can't be good.

**All that sisterly bonding ... I had to make them fight, lol. I just thought there would be some resentment there ... let me know what you think.**


	8. Lost Again?

Paige's POV.

Chapter 8 - Lost Again?

"No one said it was your fault!" Prue yelled. "But you could maybe shut up about how perfect your mum is!"

"Just leave her alone, how can you be mad that she's happy!" I cried suddenly.

"You're one to talk, always moping about your dead parents!" Prue yelled back at me. "Get over it already! You had twelve years with them!"

I felt like she'd slapped me. I actually stumbled back. How _could _she?

"What did you just say?" Phoebe asked quietly. Piper had been sayingh something, but she silenced. Prue had the decency to look sorry, at least.

"I ... I didn't mean it." She said eventually. "But it's true. She shouldn't be complaining all the time! She had parents who loved her, and made her feel wanted, and -"

"And she lost them. Recently. How can you say that to her!" Phoebe started off quietly but gradularly got louder.

"You have no idea what I'm going through." I told her. "I'm going home."

"Hang on, I'll call my mum, she can pick us up." Phoebe said. "I don't want to stay here either." She gave Prue a dirty look, then pulled a mobile from her pocket.

"You can go to if you want." Prue said to Piper, but the tone of her voice said she wanted her to stay.

"No, I mean, I live here too." Piper said nervously.

"Yes. Yes. I know. OK. See you in ten." Phoebe hung up, then turned back to me, deliberatly facing away from Prue and Piper. "Mum's picking us up in ten minutes. You can stay at mine tonight."

"Look, Paige, I'm sorry -" Prue said, stepping forward. "Really -"

"Me too." I said quietly. "Sorry you wont even try to understand." I walked back into the living room, and Phoebe and I packed our things up quickly, then stood waiting at the front door. Prue had given up by the time Phoebe's mum's car pulled up outside and beeped the horn, and had disapeared into the kitchen,. Piper hovered nervously nearby.

"Well, see you." Phoebe said to Piper.

"She is sorry." Pipoer said quietly. "She's just ... not had it easy, you know?"

"Paige hasn't got it easy right now either." Phoebe said stubbornly. "I'm sorry, but she went to far."

"What about ... you know, the magic stuff?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Call me tomorrow and we'll talk about it then. But ..." She glanced towards the kitchen, then shook her head, and gave me a sympathetic look. "Bye." She let Piper hug her, as did I, but it was awkward for all of us.

Eventually, Phoebe and I climbed into the back of the car, and Phoebe started explaining. Having to hear her repeat Prue's words made me hurt all over again, adn they swan around my brain.

_Get over it already! You had twelve years with them! Get over it already! You had twelve years with them! Get over it already! ..._

Without warning, tears slipped down my face, thick and fast. Seeing this, Phoebe put her arm around me.

"It's gonna work out." She told me quietly. "And I'll never e_ver_ leave you." She promised.

But everyone always leaves me eventually.

* * *

"Phoebe?" I asked a few hours later. We were in Phoebe's bedroom, her on her bed and me on the floor in a sleeping bag.

"Yeah?" She didn't sound sleepy. Maybe she's being kept awake, worrying about our sisters, and magic ...

"Why did you stick up for me like that?" I asked her.

"Because it wasn't right what she said. I get that she's jelous 'cause of the way she's lived, but she had no right to say that too you."

"Oh."

"Besides, your my baby sister. It's my job to protect you."

We were silent for a few more minutes before she spoke.

"Paige?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. About your parents."

"Thanks." I replied, simply because I didn't know what else to say.

We fell silent again, and at some point I suppose must have fallen alseep. The next morning, I was woken by the phone ringing at half-past eleven.

"Pheebs! It's for you!" Someone yelled, and I heard Phoebe leave the room.

The events of the night before flooded back to me, and I sat up as Phoebe walked back into the room clutching the corless phone to her ear.

"Piper, I know. Yeah, I think she is." Are they talking about me? "I know we don't ... but _she _doesn't understand _us _either." Phoebe said down the phone.

"It's Piper." She mouthed to me, and I nodded.

"Yes, but she shouldn't have said it ... No." She said suddenly, shaking her head violently. "I don't care. I'm not coming over there. Neither is Paige."

Why doesn't Paige get a choice in this?

Would I have gone to see her?

"I don't know." Phoebe siad uneasily. "Hang on." She covered the mouthpiece and looked a t me. "Piper wants to know if she can come over here. Alone."

"Uh, sure." I replied.

"OK, sure. OK. OK. See you soon." Phoebe left the room - leaving me confused - and returned a minutes later without the phone.

"Piper says give her half an hour." She told me.

"Oh." I said no-commitedly.

Phoebe began pulling clothes out of the big wooden dresser against the wall, and slipped out of the room. It was only when I heard the bathroom door close that I realised I had kinda invaded her privacy.

Well, isn't that what little sisters are supposed to do? The thought made me smile, but the smile faded as, for some reason, Prue's words hit me again.

_Get over it already! You had twelve years with them! _

Twelve years with another family, away from my sisters. Are we even sisters, after that? We don't really know much about each other, probably, we don't even care ...

Probably, Prue doesn't even care how much she hurt me. Because, somehow, I've hurt her. Just by having parents.

And because of that little detail, I think I've lost my sisters ... all over again.


	9. A Million Miles

Prue's POV

Chapter 9 - A Million Miles Apart

"They agreed to meet me." Piper told me, putting the phone down. "But ... ah ... you can't come."

"I kinda figured." I shrugged, guilt nawinbg away at my insides. "I don't blame them. I was so awful."

"Prue, it was a heat-of-the-moment thing. Did you even mean it?"

I paused, thoughfully. "No. I mean, I do resent that they have some kind of family - or had some kind of family - but I can't imagine what Paige is going through. And of course it's going to take some time to get over it. I just wish I'd never said it, that she knew how sorry I was ..." I realised I was rambling, and closed my mouth. "When are you going?"

"I'm meeting them at golden gate park in half-an-hour." She told me. "IT's OK to resent them a little Prue." She added softly. "We shouldn't, but I do to. But it isn't their fault. Or ours. Or even Patty's." I remembered how awful I was to her too. I sighed.

"She didn't know it was going to turn out like this." I sighed. "No one did ... tell Paige I'm sorry, OK? I didn't mean it."

Piper nodded, and went upstairs. I sat on the living room sofa, trying to think how much Paige must hate me right now.

I don't know how long I sat there in silence, just staring at the wall, but I vaguely heard Piper call out to me as she left. I stayed there, not moving. What had I done? Paige hates me, Phoebe hates me ... And if Piper had to choose between me and them two, of course she'd choose them. They were her baby sisters too, and she probably felt the same need as me to protect them.

But she didn't drive them away.

So I'm alone again, aren't I? Sisterless. Familyless. Back to square one.

What am I going to do?

A tear formed in the corner of my eye, which scared me. I hadn't cried in ten years. I learnt the hard way, not to let emotions get involved, not to feel anything. Not to cry. Don't let the world see how much it's screwed you over.

BANG!

I was threw through the air, and landed slumped against the wall, every muscle in my body aching. What the hell ...?

A man was stood behind the sofa I had been sat on, smiling as it tossed a ball in the air. A ball of fire? No, a ball made of fire.

I tried to remember the night before, the book, before everything got screwed up. Protect the innocent ... from what?

Demos and warlocks. I shuddered.

"What are you?" I asked, struggling to my feet.

"I am Nicholas. I am a warlock." He looked at me. "Where are your sisters?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"They - and you - belong to me." He said. "Your mother promised me you years ago."

Oh, no. I remember what Patty said. Damn.

"Well, my sisters aren't here. Sorry." I said sarcastically.

"Where are they?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

To me, it felt as though they were a million miles away.

"Where are they!" I was sent flying across the room again.

"Two can play at that game." I muttered. What were my powers? Telikenesis. How ...?

I waved my arm at him, and - yes! - he was thrown too. Not very far, but still.

"You can't fight me." He raised his fist, and a ring on his finger began to glow. As it did, I felt my throat tighten, I felt a burning feeling, inside my very own head ...

"Your blood is boiling. Soon your lungs will sear." He said. I can't breath. I'm dying ... I'm dying ...

And Paige will never know how sorry I am ... they'll never know how much I care about them ... love them even ...

**So, so short, I know. I'll try to make the next one longer, honest ...**


	10. Sisters Now, Sisters Forever

Piper's POV.

Chapter 10 - Sisters Now, Sisters Forever

"Piper!" Phoebe called to me, and I walked over to them.

"Hi." I smiled. "Listen, why don't we -"

"No." Phoebe said flatly.

"You don't even know what I was gonna ask!"

"Yes, I do. We're not going back there."

"She is sorry." I told them. "She didn't mean it." Paige avoided my eyes, and Phoebe didn't answer. "Really." I added. "It wasn't easy, you know, for me growing up. And it was harder for her. She never felt love, so I don't think she knows how to. But in her own way ..."

"It's not our fault." Phoebe told me. "But she hates us because of it."

"She doesn't hate you." I replied. Phoebe just shrugged.

"Could've fooled me."

We started to walk. The park was virtually empty, the wind biting at us, and I felt sure it was going to start raining.

"This isn't right." I sighed. "We should be together, getting to know each other, not refusing to speak to one another."

Paige gave a little nod of agreement, but she didn't suggest we go back to the manor.

"Maybe it would have been better if ... if we never found each other." Phoebe said nervously. "Everything would be less complicated, and we'd just ... be back to normal."

"No." It was Paige that spoke, her voice strong. "It wouldn't. We were meant to find each other, for a reason. We're family, we belong together." I'm not sure if she believed what she was saying, but Phoebe looked thoughtful.

"But -"

Before she could even finish the word, Paige stood, her face paler than usual, her eyes wide with fear and pain.

"Paige?" Phoebe and said together.

"It's Prue." Paige breathed, gripping my arm. "Something's happening to her ... she's in so much pain ... and she's scared ... she's ... she thinks she'd dying ..."

"Oh, my god." I muttered. "Let's go -"

I grabbed Phoebe's arm, and started to pull her and Paige - the next thing I knew, white lights surrounded us, and we were home.

"How -"

"I think I - Prue!" I followed Paige's eyes to Prue, laying on the floor, gasping for breath. A man was stood over her, pointing something at her. Phoebe, who was closest, kicked him in the back, and he fell forward. I ran to Prue, pulling her to her feet.

"I'm OK, get out of here!" She cried, she the man turned to face us. He raised his fist and -

Paige brought a vase crashing down on his head. He fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

"You need to leave." Prue stated. "He'll kill you!"

"What about you?" Phoebe asked.

"It doesn't matter, I'll be OK, get out of here."

"And leave you alone, to die?" Paige cried. "Don't be stupid, we're staying right here."

"Yeah. The power of four, right? Where's that book?" Phoebe asked. I pulled it out from under the sofa, and started flipping through the pages.

"He's waking up, go upstairs, I'll hold him off -"

"No." Phoebe said. "We're not leaving you alone."

Paige grabbed hold of us, and again, white lights appeared. Then we were in the upstairs landing.

"You're good at that." Phoebe smiled. Paige blushed a little, and helped me flick through the pages.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Um .. Um ... Nicholas, I think." Prue said, rubbing her head.

"Are you OK?" Phoebe asked her.

"Yeah. I'm fine. How did you guys get here?"

"Paige orbed us." Phoebe smiled.

"How did you know -"

"I just .. felt it." Paige said, looking up. "I felt your pain, and your fear."

"Must be something to do with the whitelighter stuff." Phoebe stated.

"Paige, listen, about last night." Prue said awkwardly. "I'm sorry, really. I shouldn't have said it. I didn't mean it, and -"

"Forget it." Paige said. "I .. I know." Their eyes met, and I looked up from the book. "I could hear you." Paige whispered.

"Got it." I was sorry to interrupt, but I did actually want to stay alive.

"The spell?" Phoebe asked.

"Yep. The one Patty mentioned."

We crowded round it - as Nicholas ran up the stairs.

"You can't run from me." He warned us. "Your mother promised me I could have you. She promised me you."

"Tough." Prue said. "You are not hurting them."

"Or her." Phoebe smiled.

A large transparent white ... thing appeared around. Like a bubble. And when he raised his fist and the ring glowed, nothing happened.

"What the - what's that?" I gaped.

"That is the power of four." Phoebe said.

"The page had a little baggy attached." Paige frowned.

"Throw it over him." I commanded. She undid the little velvet bag and threw the powder over him.

"Uh - uh - lavender, mimosa, holy thistle ..." I read.

"Cleanse this evil from our midst," We chanted together. "Scatter its cells throughout time, let this Nick no more exist."

He spun around, so fast he blurred, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Wow." Phoebe breathed.

"The Power Of Four?" Prue asked.

"Yep. The power of us." Paige nodded.

* * *

"So we promise never to be apart again?" I asked a few hours later. I long heart to heart - and several tubs of chocolate ice-cream - had followed the vanquish.

"Yep. And I'll ask my mum if we can move in here." Phoebe nodded. We'd decided that a while ago. Along with ...

"And I'll move in tomorrow." Paige smiled.

"There's one more person we need to make peace with." I said quietly. Phoebe's eyes met mine and I knew she understood, even though Paige and Prue looked confused.

"Mum." I said.

* * *

"Hear these words, hear my cry, sprit from the other side, I summon thee, come to me, cross now the great divide."

Glancing to my left, I saw Prue looking nervously at the circle of candles. I gave her hand a squeeze. At the other side of me, Phoebe tighten her grip on my other hand as a woman appeared ...

"Girls?" She asked, looking over us. "Wh -?" We stood in silence, holding hands, just staring at her. I took in ever detail - Hair similar to Phoebe's, eyes similar to mine. Paige's nose. Prue's mouth. No doubt about it. We came from her - she's a part of us.

She stepped out of the circle, and became opaque. She looked ... real.

Prue broke away from me, ran to her, and flung her arms round her neck.

"Mum." She muttered, her voice muffled against our mother's shoulder. Mum started crying, and when Prue finally drew back, tears were on her face too.

"I'm sorry." Mum said to us. "I'm so, so sorry. I should have found a way to keep you with me, to keep you together -"

"No." Prue said, shaking her head.

"It's OK." I agreed. "You did what you thought was best. And we're here, alive, and together." I smiled, as I hugged her too. It felt strange, being hugged by my real mother. I'd lain awake for countless nights, imagining this moment ...

I pulled back, to find I was crying too. What is it with her?

Phoebe was next, and she too had tears on her face when she was released. Paige was already crying as mum pulled her into her arms.

"I have a message for you." Mum said quietly.

"You do?"

"Yep. From you parents." Paige drew back and looked up at mum, her eyes shining. Mum leaned forward and whispered something to her. We couldn't hear what was said, but I knew it wasn't meant for us to know. It was between Paige and her parents.

"I want you girls to stay together." Patty said once we were stood back in a line facing her. We nodded.

"I mean it. You're stronger together ... but it's not just that. I broke you up all those years ago, and I couldn't stand it if it happened again. Stay together."

"We will." Prue promised.

"OK. You're in for some tough times ..."

"And we'll get through it." Prue said. "The witchy stuff ... and the human stuff." She added, looking at Paige. "We're here for each other."

"Sisters Now, Sisters Forever." Paige nodded.

"This is going to be interesting." I smiled.

* * *

**And that is the end. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks to everyone who read and reviewed.**


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